Record Breaking 1.76 Billion App Downloads Over Holidays

Over 1.7 billion mobile apps were downloaded worldwide from 25 December to 31 December, according to a new study by mobile analytics firm Flurry.

Flurry reported that the final week of 2012 brought on a significant increase in overall app downloads. US consumers were found to be the biggest downloaders of apps last week. Flurry predicted app downloads to continue to grow through 2013.

“The most important week of the year for app makers is the final week of the year, between Christmas and New Year’s Day,” wrote Flurry’s vice president of marketing Peter Farago in a blog post.

“Starting with Christmas Day, the largest single device activation day of the year, the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day is marked by significantly elevated device activations and app downloads.”

According to Flurry, 1.76 billion mobile apps were downloaded in the final week of the year. The number set a record for apps downloaded over a one week period. The average number of weekly downloads in December, not including the Christmas period, was just 1.07 billion.

China, the US, and the UK were found to be the top three countries for app downloads. The US led the way with 604 million app downloads. China was reported to download 183 million apps. While the UK came in third with 132 million apps downloaded.

Flurry projects that 2013 will see one billion app downloads a week become a standard. The firm also believes that two billion app downloads a week could become a norm during the fourth quarter of the year.

“Facebook declared itself a ‘mobile’ company, and Amazon and Microsoft both made significant investments into mobile computing, we look forward to continued record-breaking adoption of smart devices and applications.”

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